A STUDENT who clung to a tree in a freezing creek for 12 hours after she was in a horrific car smash has revealed the awful moment she had to leave her friend to die.

Natalie Griffin has been having nightmares about the terrible accident and how she could do nothing but watch her friend slip away as she was trapped in the sinking wreckage.

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Speaking to Dailymail.com, the 19-year-old recalled how she escaped from the car through a broken window after it veered off the highway in Mendocino County, California, and into a creek.
The motor belonged to her friend Jenna Santos, and there was nothing the pair could do as it careered into the ravine.
Natalie told the website she would never forget her close pal, and said: "It was the scariest moment of my life when I realized she was still in the car after I had escaped, it's hard to explain, I was so heartbroken."
She added: "I stayed in that tree all night with my dead friend under me."
The pair had spent two days hiking in Humboldt County, with friends before the terrible accident.

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Jenna, pictured, couldn't escape the wreck because her leg was trapped by the steering column

They were driving home and took a bend too fast causing the car to hydroplane.
Natalie recalled she was texting her boyfriend when the car spun out of control, and she could hear Jenna screaming.
The car turned upside down and she had a huge blow to her head.
It rolled down into the creek below the road, which was swollen with rainwater from the storms which have lashed parts of California.
The current was so strong it flipped the car right side up and it started moving along in the water.
It was then Natalie who is studying Anthropology at Chabot College noticed the car was beginning to fill up.
The girls tried desperately to smash the windshield which was already cracked - but their desperate attempts weren't working.
Then as the cried and screamed, the car dipped forward and began to fill up even more quickly.

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At this point one of Jenna's legs was trapped by the steering column.
Natalie knew she had to go under water to see if there was some way out and say the rear window had no glass in it.
She turned to her friend telling her it was the only chance of escape, and it was to be the last time the pair spoke.
Natalie told the website: "I looked at Jenna's face, she was terrified and she was crying and I just wanted to get both of us out, I grabbed her shoulder and I said, 'come on, come on Jenna, we can go through the back window', and then I jumped out as quick as I could expecting her to follow. But she didn't follow."
Seconds after she exited the car it rolled over, and her friend had no chance of escaping.
Natalie got taken away by a wave, which pushed her into a tree, and she was able to pull herself out of the raging torrent.
Feeling like it was all a bad dream, she began screaming her friends name, and screaming at cars passing by. But no one could hear her.
The car had become wedged below the tree she was stranded in.
The temperature dropped to 20 degrees and the teen was forced to try to keep warm by making herself into a "cannonball" under her jacket.
She made a couple of attempts to swim to shore, but the current tried to pull her under.

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A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Jenna's funeral expenses

Natalie revealed she used yoga techniques and meditation to try to remain calm.
She stayed in the tree for 12 hours and waited for light so she could make another bid to get to safety.
But it was when morning came and she looked down into the car, and made a "horrible" discovery - she thought she could see her friends hair in the water below her.
She said: "I just thanked God I was alive and I was going to wait until the middle of the day so the water could warm up, but then I just had to get out of there."
Natalie made a break for it, and then nearly drowned as she made it to the bank and got entangled in some vines.
But she managed to survive again, and after getting out of the water, was able to get to the road and flag down a passing car, who called 911 and took her to a hospital.
Natalie was suffering from a sprained ankle and had to get stitches in her foot.
She is now at home in Castro Valley trying to recuperate from the accident and come to terms with losing Jenna and the horrific circumstances of her death.
Natalie added she will miss her "beautiful" best friend and with her family has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.

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